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Oral History: The making of hockey action movie 'Sudden Death'

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Twenty years later, the director, producer, writer and many players recall working on hockey’s greatest action movie.

Sudden Death smashed its way into movie theaters in December of 1995. The film starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, who saves a hockey game from a terrorist bomb threat. But this wasn’t just any game – this was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks. The producer and the writer of 'Sudden Death' were also the owners of the Penguins during the mid-1990s. Howard Baldwin produced the film, based on a story written by his wife, Karen Elise Baldwin.

'Sudden Death' was shot at the old Civic Arena, a.k.a. “The Igloo.” Many notable Penguins’ personalities make appearances. Superstar Luc Robitalle is in 'Sudden Death,' as are ex-Pens Jay Caufield and Mark Kachowski. Up in the broadcast booth are play-by-play announcer Mike Lange and color commentator Paul Steigerwald. Heck, even team mascot Iceburgh is in one of the film’s most iconic fight scenes. Van Damme – who did not respond to interview requests for this article – plays Darren McCord, a former firefighter who suffered a meltdown and is relegated to the role of a fire inspector. He just so happens to be working at Civic Arena during the Finals, and uncovers a terrorist plot involving bombs and hostages.

In typical action hero fashion, he single-handedly takes on the bad guys. Peter Hyams, whose credits include 'The Star Chamber', '2010', 'The Presidio' and numerous others, was brought on as director and cinematographer. He and Van Damme worked together on the 1994 sci-fi flick 'Timecop.' Neither had any experience with hockey before 'Sudden Death.'

HOWARD BALDWIN [PRODUCER/PENGUINS OWNER]: We wanted to do a movie that had a good story, but if it had hockey in it, then that’s all the better, right? And that’s really what we tried to achieve.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN [WRITER/PENGUINS OWNER]: I was an actress, and then I started writing and producing. We had the Penguins, we had access to Civic Arena, and the building was unique in that the roof opened up. One day, I said “What if we do something like 'Die Hard' in a hockey arena?” I thought that would be a lot of fun because the building is so unique and at that point in time, there were a lot of Die Hard-type movies.

PETER HYAMS [DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER]: I was not a hockey fan. I had not been to a hockey game before. I started to do research, and then I started to watch the Penguins play. I began to realize the unbelievable athleticism involved, and the violence involved and the speed of that puck. Hockey is better in the arena than it is on television. It’s a phenomenal sport.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: Peter read the script, and said “God this is wild, but they’re never going to let us use the building or their hockey team.” When he found out that we actually owned the team and played in the building, he was on board.

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Early in the film, McCord takes his son Tyler to the Penguins’ locker room, where they meet superstar Luc Robitalle. They also have an encounter with the Penguins’ moody goaltender, Brad Tolliver -- memorably played by ex-Pens tough guy Jay Caufield. For Caufield, now a studio analyst for Penguins’ TV broadcasts, this was his first on-screen work.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: Luc and I had acting classes together, back when he was with the Kings. And we had the same manager. So, I was a good pal with Luc. He had a bit of an advantage in getting a part.

NANCY MOSSER [LOCAL CASTING/EXTRAS CASTING]: The challenge for the role of the goaltender was to get someone who was missing teeth and could play mean. Someone originally suggested (ex-Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker) Jack Lambert, but he really wasn’t interested. So (hockey consultant) Dee Rizzo suggested Jay Caufield.

JAY CAUFIELD [BRAD TOLLIVER]: I had just retired from the sport. I got a phone call from Nancy, and I initially said that I did not want to do it. I think I just wanted to stay away from hockey in general. My wife wanted me to look into it. Nancy called me again, and I said I’d try it.

MOSSER: I think Jay was really nervous. He was very reluctant. We went through the lines a couple of times, and I said “Jay, you are really good. You can do this.” And then I put him on tape and of course they loved him.

HYAMS: [Caufield] was very eager to try and do it well. He’d smile and was missing a couple of teeth. He had shoulders the size of Pennsylvania. He was a lot of fun to work with, as was Luc. For them, it wasn’t a home game. For them, it was an away game. They were trying to please and do a good job at something which they weren’t familiar with, in making a film.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: When Jay did his lines, he was so good they added more lines to his part.

MARK KACHOWSKI [PENGUINS PLAYER “BEAUMONT”]: I remember Van Damme talking to the director about his lines with Jay, and saying “He’s so big and intimidating.” Jay is just a big man.

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According to multiple sources, Caufield was supposed to appear shirtless in the scene, so as to appear more intimidating, but Van Damme insisted that the ex-NHLer not appear bare-chested.Meanwhile, the Baldwins had secured permission from the NHL to film the Penguins’ home game on October 1, 1994 against the Chicago Blackhawks. The plan was to use footage of that game’s action, as well as the crowd, in what assuredly would have been a sellout. Then a lockout ultimately cancelled the first half of the 1994-95 season.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: We thought it would be easy – we’d just use our own crowd during a game. Because of the lockout, we had to scramble and figure out how we were going to achieve two teams on the ice and a building full of people.

HOWARD BALDWIN: The lockout didn’t make our lives easier. We had to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get through it, but we did. To get some hockey and crowd footage, the Pittsburgh Penguins played an exhibition match against their minor league team, the Cleveland Lumberjacks in October of 1994. The Lumberjacks were outfitted in Blackhawks uniforms.

HOWARD BALDWIN: I had a good relationship with (NHLPA Director) Bob Goodenow, who said it was OK if the Penguins wanted to play in this exhibition game.

IAN MORAN [LUMBERJACKS PLAYER]: I wore Chris Chelios’ jersey, probably because I’m a right-shooting defenseman. They tried to make it look as real as possible.

MOSSER: I had to cast 10,000 extras. Those were paid, booked extras that we had to call and tell them what to wear.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: Obviously, there’s a difference between a real NHL game and something that you’re trying to make look like an NHL game.

MORAN: Basically, it was like a shinny hockey game. It was pretty easy going. They set up some face-offs here and there. It wasn’t a full game, obviously. There wasn’t any real intensity to it. It was a fun night.

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The mock game between the Penguins and Lumberjacks wouldn’t pass for the Stanley Cup Finals, perhaps because players on both teams were on good terms with one another. So another scrimmage was staged in January 1995, using two ECHL teams. The Wheeling Thunderbirds and Johnstown Chiefs played each other at Civic Arena, wearing Penguins and Blackhawks uniforms.However, much of the hockey action seen in 'Sudden Death' utilized the talents of numerous local-area hockey players. Most of the close-up or distance shots, as well as key goals, saves and body checks in 'Sudden Death' were performed by local ex-college or ex-pro players, with a few beer leaguers in the mix. Most were paid $125 a night for upwards of a 12-hour shift and were on-call over a four-month span. Players were either on the ice or waiting around for hours at a time.

HYAMS: There were a number of shots at ice-level. We had to figure out ways to get the cameras to move quickly. Regular dollies wouldn’t work, so we essentially had cameras on skates that we could pull and move at the speed that people were skating. I was trying very hard to make people feel like they were in the game.

JIM “MORT” MCVAY [PENGUINS GOALIE]: We had call times of 10 or 11 at night, and go until 7or 8 in the morning. We had regular jobs, but it was so much fun to stay up all night, drink Coke and coffee, and then go to work. We’d play four or five hours a night. No one ever gets four hours on the ice. It was just such a unique thing to be one of the hockey players.

DEE RIZZO [HOCKEY CONSULTANT & BLACKHAWKS PLAYER]: I played with Chris Chelios on the Junior Olympic Team. He took me under his wing. I always remembered that. So when I was brought on for this movie, I wanted to wear Chelios’ jersey. I should have done my homework and asked to be a Penguin because they got all the speaking roles. But it’s all good.

PHIL SPANO [HOCKEY CONSULTANT & PENGUINS PLAYER]: The stunt guys coached us on how to protect ourselves. The first hockey stunt we did was me getting checked [face-first] into the glass by Dee. We had a crosshair drawn into the glass. We were skating fast, but had to find that spot on the glass, and coordinate it so you didn’t get hurt. It took six or seven takes before we got it right. As soon as I was done, I asked the medic for four Tylenol.

BOB BLACK [BLACKHAWKS GOALIE]: They needed a goalie that had upper skill level and would be about the same size as Eddie Belfour. Fortunately, I fit those requirements. I wore Belfour’s secondary set of equipment. It was exciting to put on his mask. You could really let your imagination go. We had guys on the ice like Luc Robitalle and Mark Kachowski. It was almost like, if you didn’t play pro hockey, this was the next-best thing.

MCVAY: There were about 15 to 20 hockey players there per night. There was a snack table. We’d come off the ice and we would sit together. If Van Damme came over, his assistant would tell us all to move 10 feet away from the table.

KACHOWSKI: I had the guy with the boom microphone and tape recorder follow me around on the ice one night while everyone else was in the locker room. Stops and starts, shooting pucks against the glass, shooting pucks against the boards, shooting pucks against the goalposts. Do it again, stop, turn, turn, turn. I got a pretty good workout in.

SPANO: We were kind of like a SWAT team – we went in and did our thing. We were in a very specialized role. A lot of the hockey action is in the background, so you had to maintain the realism of the game without ever taking focus away from the action in the foreground.

MCVAY: One night, we didn’t do anything except play cards. Somebody got into a super box and figured out that the refrigerator was still full of beer from the season before.

RIZZO: About five or six of us went upstairs and got into the boxes in old Civic Arena. We jimmied the locks on the refrigerator doors. We figured if we weren’t shooting, we’d just get hammered. We went from suite to suite and jimmied all of the refrigerator doors open and drank all night just to kill time.

KACHOWSKI: Beer was snuck down into the locker rooms, somehow. I remember that: sitting around, playing cards, having a few beers.

RIZZO: When you’re [drunk], and you’re tired, you’re really giddy, and you’re laughing. So, we bonded a lot, the guys. It brought us all closer together. What a great experience that was.

BLACK: One night, they took a break from filming, and the director said to me “Listen, we need to keep [the audience] entertained. Would you mind fighting Iceburgh at center ice?” I agreed. Everyone else was off the ice. I skate by Iceburgh and he pushes me. So I push him back. I drop my catching glove, jump on top of him, and pretend to hit him with my blocker. I forgot that I was in a Blackhawks jersey, and so the crowd is booing me. The guy in the costume is yelling at me to let him win. Finally, the crowd was booing so loud I agreed to let him beat me. How often do you get yelled at by a guy in a penguin costume?

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Up in the broadcast booth are two Penguins’ mainstays: Mike Lange, calling the play-by-play, and Paul Steigerwald adding color commentary. To get natural-sounding play-by-play, hockey footage was edited together and shown to the duo.

MIKE LANGE [PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER]: After calling a game [in early 1995], we had to stay after to film our scenes. We had fun doing it. I got a lot of memories, though I don’t remember much of it now (laughs).

PAUL STEIGERWALD [COLOR COMMENTATOR]: We were calling the game off of a monitor. The game was on film, not on video, and had to be cranked by hand to play. Mike really had to carry the ball, because he’s calling the game. I just popped in with a phrase or two.

LANGE: It was a challenge, because the players were [mainly] local people. They had NHL jerseys on, but were completely different than who it would normally be. When you do play-by-play, you learn players’ tendencies. It became quite a challenge with all these guys who were playing someone else. But jersey numbers helped the cause for dummies like me.

STEIGERWALD: [Mike’s play-by-play] was a really important element in that movie. Important to creating the feeling that you were at a game, that the game was ongoing while all this other stuff was taking place at the arena.

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In one memorable scene, McCord gets into a fight to the death with the Penguins’ mascot, Iceburgh – or more specifically, a villainous henchwoman disguised as Iceburgh.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: That was Peter’s idea. I really trusted him, and he pulled it off. It was a crazy idea, but it was one of those crazy ideas where as soon as you saw it, you knew it was going to work.

HOWARD BALDWIN: There wasn’t any hesitation on my part. It’s a movie, and it’s fun. Nobody is going to think our mascot does that in real life (laughs).

HYAMS: I thought to do a really violent and dangerous fight between a guy and somebody as ludicrous as a big penguin. I thought it was cinematic and in some respects funny in a very unfunny situation because the penguin itself was a very lethal person. And I just thought the juxtaposition of putting that kind of lethal violence of a man fighting for his life with somebody dressed as an adorable penguin, who turned out to be murderous, just seemed to me to be both cinematic and funny.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: When you look at movies in the 1990s, you could get away with a certain amount of camp, quippy one-liners, that sort of thing.

HYAMS: I can’t defend silly ideas that I have except that I think it is an idea that worked. I thought it would be funny when the hero punches the face of the mascot, and it has no effect. After that, I thought to make the fight as lethal as you can make it, and then you have something that is maybe original.

BLACK: We’re walking into the arena one day. I’m half asleep trying to gather my senses, and here comes Iceburgh, walking down the hall, all chewed up. One eye hanging down, stuffing’s all falling out, the costume’s all ripped apart. The first thing out of my mouth was “Bad day today?”

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After disarming some bombs and fighting more bad guys, McCord ducks into the Penguins’ locker room, trying to avoid capture. There he finds Pens’ goalie Brad Tolliver, who left the game due to illness. McCord suits up in Tolliver’s gear, steps onto the ice, and skates to the Penguins bench. The coach, oblivious that it is actually the arena’s fire inspector behind the mask, orders him into the net.The Blackhawks get a breakaway, and McCord – in a near-panic from the situation he is in -- makes an eyes-closed glove save. He then stands up, spots his son in the stands, and in sign language says to him “I love you.”

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: The origin of that idea was from a story my husband and I developed called Red Line, about a Soviet goaltender who is able to defect because he’s wearing his mask. That project never happened, but I took that element and used it here. It’s far-fetched, but you know, at this point the whole thing is a little far-fetched, so you either go with it or you don’t (laughs).

BLACK: Peter asked me to help dress Jean-Claude in goalie equipment. He’s not very tall, and the Penguins’ goalie pads were big, but that’s what they had to work with. Goalie skates aren’t very comfortable if you aren’t used to them. Van Damme steps off the trainer’s table, walks maybe 15 feet towards the ice, turns around and says “Get this stuff off of me!” So, we had him take the goalie skates off [for some scenes], and I showed him how to shuffle, how to make it look like he was skating. But he had tennis shoes on.

PAT BEGGY [HOCKEY COORDINATOR & PENGUINS TRAINER]: I hand-picked Tim Guenther, who played college and pro roller hockey, to take that shot. I said, “Listen, when you take that shot, just make sure you put it IN the glove of Jean-Claude.”

HYAMS: The thing I imposed on that scene is the signing of “I love you.” We were watching Sesame Street when my sons were little, and one of them said “I love you” to me in sign language. That is how I said “good night” to my sons every single night of their lives. To this day, it is how we say “see you later” to each other. I wanted to put that in the film. [McCord] is pushed into this ridiculous situation, where he is way over his head, and he makes this save. Then, to bring it back to earth, he signs “I love you” to his son.

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McCord grabs a nearby Blackhawks player and punches him, setting off a brawl and getting ejected from the game in the process. Later, Luc Robitalle scores a game-tying goal for the Penguins in the closing seconds of the third period, sending the game to -- wait for it -- sudden death overtime.

KACHOWSKI: We had a huge fight scene. They cut out most of it. That was fun to shoot. The guys made it look pretty good.

BLACK: I suggested to Luc that he bring the puck in on his forehand, draw it across to his backhand, and put it inside the post. I’ll come diving across, but will leave plenty of room. And Luc chuckled, and said to me “You don’t need to leave that much room – just enough for the puck to get through. I’ll get it.”

Toward the end of the film, McCord brawls with a thug on Civic Arena’s domed roof, which is partially retracted. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks and Penguins – and thousands of fans – are oblivious to the violence taking place above.

BEGGY: One camera angle that really stuck out in my mind was one that starts at ice level and goes up in the air, then slowly turns to the roof where there is a fight. They had a camera guy on a little stool with a rope attached to it. And the rope went up to a pulley attached to the ceiling of Civic Arena, then down to the bumper of a pickup truck in the parking lot. When they called “Action!” the truck would drive across the lot and pull the camera man up. I thought it was really clever, and risky, but it was pretty cool to witness.

HYAMS: One big challenge was, we didn’t always have 10,000 extras. We wanted it to feel like a full stadium. So we had a couple thousand people that would move for each shot, and 10,000 cutouts of people. I would sprinkle real people within the cutouts so that there would be movement.

BLACK: They were filming the fight scene on the rooftop. The helicopter [with the camera] was huge. You could feel the wind from the blades on the ice starting to swirl around the boards. All of a sudden, sections of these cardboard people start catapulting hundreds of feet into the air, and then they’re spinning down to the ice. My jaw just dropped.

MOSSER: The cardboard cutouts sort of became a personality of their own. They looked pretty real. They were really effective until the wind came and moved them. People had to scramble to set them back up again. Everybody worked so hard to get those seats filled.

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'Sudden Death' was released in theaters on December 22, 1995, back in an era when most movie theaters were closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It also faced some tough competition at the box office and made around $20 million during its theatrical run in the U.S. However, it made another $44 million worldwide, and became a popular staple for cable TV and in video rentals and sales.

KAREN ELISE BALDWIN: When you create something, and then actually see it on the big screen, it’s an amazing feeling. People watch it and are able to see your ideas fulfilled.

CAUFIELD: People still bring up Sudden Death, especially in Pittsburgh.

STEIGERWALD: I still get checks for my appearance, for about $3.74, whenever 'Sudden Death' airs on a cable channel somewhere in Europe.

LANGE: I went into a convenience store one day, and a gentleman behind the counter who I hadn’t met before recognized me. He didn’t speak any English, and he starts moving his hands like an old-time movie projector, and saying “John Wayne, John Wayne.” He had seen 'Sudden Death' in Pakistan.

HYAMS: I really learned to appreciate the sport. And I loved working with Howard and Karen. They are nice people in a business where you don’t really find nice people. To this day, I am a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Although I am from New York, so I will still root for the Rangers.

RIZZO: After the movie was done, we kept the [hockey] group together. We’d get together once every week or so and play pickup hockey together. We did it regularly until about five years ago. We only did it once last year. It’s harder now that we’re all older, with families.

SPANO: Years later, I got work as the hockey coordinator for 'She’s Out of My League.' Having that opportunity tells me I did my job well the first time.

CAUFIELD: One thing I remember is when we were filming a scene where my character was sick and I had to throw up. I did it, then I kind of giggled, and then everyone in the room giggled. Peter walked up to me, and I don’t know verbatim, but said if you’re going to do it, do it the best you can; don’t do it halfway. I appreciated that. It made sense to me. That stuck with me more than anything over the years.

Goalies unmasked: Eight NHLers sound off on the position's hot topics

The Panel

How has goaltending changed compared to when you first started your career?

CORY SCHNEIDER: I came in the league with some of the guys at the end of the past generation, but I’ve also been around for some of the newer techniques and technologies and younger goalies. Just from what I’ve seen, the technique today is so good. Kids are learning this stuff at six, seven, eight years old, and they’re playing year round, and their technique is almost impeccable. I watch guys come into the league now, and they all seem to play like Carey Price.

ROBERTO LUONGO: If I still played the way I did back in the day, I wouldn’t be in the NHL anymore. You have to evolve with the time and the position and the new techniques that come out every year.

DOMINIK HASEK: I see a big change with the sliding. I wasn’t a sliding goalie. I was a butterfly goalie, but I was more up and down. Quickly down, quickly up. Today it seems the goalies look lazy, but they are not lazy. The style can look like that. They’re on their knees even when the puck is behind they net. They don’t go quickly up. They stay on one knee. My goalie coach told me it started in the ’90s in Finland. Through the sliding you cover the lower part of the net unbelievably, much better than we did as a group as goalies in the ’90s.

MITCH KORN: Everybody shoots the puck hard. Pucks are shot now harder and faster than ever before. Sticks are made of this material, and they tell me there is metal in them now. I can tell you this: it’s not your grandfather’s wooden sticks propelling pucks to the net now.

MARTIN BRODEUR: The last few years I played – and now I watch a lot of hockey and a lot of goalies – I see it’s a lot more demanding physically than it used to be, because of how fast and good everybody’s getting a younger age. Also because they take…I wouldn’t say liberties, because they want to score goals, but there’s not a price to pay to go to the net hard. Back then, with Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko around me, if someone wanted to go to the net really hard, he would’ve paid a hefty price.

SCHNEIDER: When you look back at the older generations, you saw more improvisation. That’s a natural reaction of not being as technical. Guys like Marty Brodeur and Dominik Hasek and Mike Richter just made it up as they went. They read they game so well that they knew exactly what they were doing, but it looked like they had no technique. I’m not saying young guys don’t have that flair, that read of the game. I think they do. But some of that gamesmanship, going out and finding any way to stop the puck, it’s disappeared a little bit.

BRODEUR: The backups are better. They’re more prepared. Kids in the minors are more prepared. Before there was a huge drop from the No. 1 to the No. 2. Now you don’t even see that drop almost, unless you put it on a full-year-scale. You had Mike Condon come in last year out of college, he had to play all these games for Montreal. He got exposed a little bit, but when he was able to play a few games, you couldn’t even tell who was the No. 1 or No. 2 goalie.

JAMIE MCLENNAN: It’s harder to be a pro athlete today, period, because there’s no downtime in the public eye. Before you could be a human and you could hide a little bit, because there wasn’t social media and media outlets tracking your every move. Information has come to the forefront. There are always people trying to dig for deeper information on you as a person and an athlete.

What are the biggest differences between this goalie generation and the last in training and preparation?

COREY HIRSCH: The equipment. Goalies are able to practise harder, longer. Practice used to be survival. You really never got any better unless you were already a good goalie. Think of the stuff Mike Palmateer used to have to use. Think he was standing in front of a Zdeno Chara slapshot in practice with that stuff on? Not a chance. (laughs)

KORN: It’s way harder to be a goalie today. However, the goalies have greater luxuries today, because the equipment’s way better and way more protective, which allows you to actually practise hard. In the old days the equipment was so poor that even though guys didn’t shoot like they do now, you couldn’t work on your game, especially without masks.

HASEK: The equipment is much better than it was in the ’80s. The goalies can practise much harder, because they do not have to be afraid of the puck. Everything is very well covered. I remember in the ’80s, we had to be a little bit careful. You couldn’t catch the puck in your hand or glove. If you got hit on the shoulder or somewhere on the groin or from the side, it could be very painful.

SCHNEIDER: You’re getting incredible athletes in the net now. I’m seeing guys come into camp, and they’re 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, they weigh 220 pounds, and they have six percent body fat. They look like linebackers or tight ends. It used to be that goalies were just guys who can stop the puck, and they weren’t known for their physique. But now you look at some guys around the league, they’re tall, they’re strong, they’re athletic, and it’s almost not even a fair fight anymore. And that’s great. The goaltending position’s so athletic now that they’re drawing the kind of guys that maybe would’ve played defense or forward or a different sport.

HIRSCH: Goalies are in so much better shape now. That’s part of it. Most of us didn’t work out back in the ’80s. And then Mike Richter and Eddie Belfour ruined it for everybody. Let’s blame Vladislav Tretiak. Did Ken Dryden ever lift a weight? I don’t know. Mike Richter was a machine. You have no idea. Both of my legs put together were one of his. He won the Rangers fitness award every year.

KORN: Every organization has two goalie coaches now, one for the NHL and one for development, and some even have three. These young people are getting good goalie coaching as youths before they even get drafted or turn pro, which gets them way more prepared than they used to be. And the digital age, the ability to share information, the number of games they can watch, nationally, internationally, is amazing. When I grew up, I got to watch one game a week: Hockey Night in Canada, Saturday night. Now, with the Center Ice package, with satellite dishes, the Euro goalies are watching all of North America, which they never could before, and we can watch growing up every game, every goalie, every move they make. YouTube, NHL.com and Twitter provide information we never had before.

BRODEUR: When I started, there were maybe a few goalies who used to skate with a goalie coach in the summer. It never happened. Now there are full-fledged camps. There are eight NHL goalies coming in from eight different teams, practising together for a week in the summer. You’ve never seen that before. You’ve got guys who are outside sources. They’re not even employed by NHL teams, these coaches. There are just gurus out there who have their own players, personally coached, and you see the same thing going with forwards.

SCHNEIDER: At the same time, the days where kids played three sports and learned other skills are disappearing a bit. I played baseball and soccer up until high school, and I loved it. It helped my footwork. It helped my hand-eye co-ordination. So many guys get locked in year-round to hockey at 10, 11, 12 that maybe they’re prone to more injuries, like hip injuries, because they haven’t used their hips in other ways besides goaltending. I’ve heard kids from college and the minors are having double hip labrum surgeries. For the generation ahead of me and my generation, that’s rare. It seems like it’s the Tommy John now of hockey.

GRANT FUHR: There’s more time spent on goalies now, through specialized coaching and that sort of thing. It’s not so much you learn on the fly as you go anymore as you get help right out of the gate. We learned on our own. You figured the position out for yourself. Or you hoped you had a great partner that helped you out with it. Mitch Korn in Buffalo was the first goalie coach I had.

BRODEUR: I kind of laugh when people talk about terms of how they make saves. Different positioning off the post, a post lean or whatever. That was never in the language back then. I’d never heard of that. Puck tracking. These terms are fairly new.

Have goalies become too good?

LUONGO: I don’t think that’s the issue. The issue is just the way the game’s played now, with coaching systems and defensive systems and guys blocking shots. What creates the buzz in a building are great scoring chances, whether it’s a goal or a save. If chances are generated at a high rate, that’s what’s going to make hockey exciting. Hence the 3-on-3. It’s so wide open. There are so many scoring chances. People love that, right?

SCHNEIDER: It could be ebbing and flowing. Kids like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, Team North America from the World Cup, you saw how much speed they had. The Penguins play with a ton of speed, and the Capitals, and they score goals. As long as the league is heading in that direction, it’s going to be harder for goalies to be less athletic or just sit there and let pucks hit them.

FUHR: Goalies are better athletes, there are more good goalies now, but I don’t think it hurts the game. If anything, the defensive systems hurt the game more than the goalies do. If a goalie has a bad night, you can still score a lot of goals.

Is shrinking equipment the best way to increase scoring?

HASEK: I have to say it’s a good idea. Any time the goalies say that, I know the other goalies will hate me (laughs)! That's normal. But you have to be very careful, because you have to be sure the goalies are protected very well, which they are today.

SCHNEIDER: I don’t think it’s going to be as great as everyone says. We made all the gear smaller after the lockout. We shrunk the pads a couple years ago. I agree with the sentiment that there are guys who look much, much larger than they are in person and that they’re only using the gear for blocking and not for protection. I’m all for protecting the guys and making sure they don’t get hurt, but I also don’t think you should abuse it and take up space in the net. It might have an impact on some guys, but the league’s becoming more athletic. Guys are becoming bigger and can move around like they’re 5-foot-10 when they’re 6-foot-5.

HIRSCH: It will have an impact on scoring, but for me it’s not about the scoring, it’s about having the athletic goalie and the best athletes. You’re putting back some excitement in the game. You’ll have rebounds and you’ll have athletic goaltending where they’ll have to play a little different to make saves.

BRODEUR: I don’t think it’s fair for me to talk about it that much, because I was never a guy who was blamed for cheating and I never wanted to expose anyone either. My thing is, if everybody’s in the same boat, if the playing field is equal for everyone, it shouldn’t matter what kind of equipment you wear.

HASEK: There is a cheater on the catching glove. If you ask any goalie, he loves it. I love it. But if you cut it for everyone, it would make a difference. I don’t know if you can cut one inch of pad. I don’t know. There is not too much room for cutting anymore, as you have to be protected well because of things like one timers.

SCHNEIDER: I would much rather shrink the equipment before I changed the nets. Making bigger nets would be a last resort. I’d even say after the equipment I would change some of the rules in the game. Guys can’t leave their feet to block shots, change the neutral zone rules, something to opening up the game and create more scoring chances – before bigger nets. Maybe I’m just an historian and enjoy the classic part of the game, but it would be like making them bigger in basketball. Part of it just feels wrong. But if goalies keep getting bigger and in 10 years the average goalie is 6-foot-5…they didn’t design the nets for 6-foot-5 goalies. They designed them for guys who are 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, 5-foot-10, and maybe that’s just evolution.

HIRSCH: I’m wondering what it would be like if you have a zone in front of the net where you’re only allowed there for a few seconds in defensive mode, like the illegal defense rule in basketball.

SCHNEIDER: Would the league like more scoring? Of course. But I also think the style of play is just as important. If you have an up-and-down-the-ice game that’s a 3-2 game, that’s fantastic, as opposed to 20 shots, everything’s getting blocked, there’s no room in the neutral zone. A 3-2 game that way is not nearly as exciting.

FUHR: I’d put the weight back in the equipment. Heavy equipment makes it harder to move. Harder to move, smaller equipment. It shrinks by itself. That’s why we wore it smaller. It was heavy. You didn’t want to wear it big.

KORN: We can manipulate the rules. I’m a big believer that, short of picking the puck up and throwing it in, there are a lot more ways to score goals than are currently allowed. Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in World Cup. He used his glove, he punched it in, it didn’t it his stick like he hoped it would. Why isn’t that a goal? Why isn’t the goal that Andrew Shaw headbutted in a few years ago a goal? Why can’t you kick the puck in the net? Why can’t you hand-pass the puck anywhere on the ice? I think these more than changing goalie equipment will enhance goal scoring that they’re looking for.

What’s the most difficult skill for any goalie to master?

HASEK: You have to have talent, you have to have very good reactions, you have to be a very good skater. Good flexibility is helpful. And you cannot give up. It’s most important. You have to be a leader, because the team is behind you. You’re the last on the team who gives up. The team depends on you.

FUHR: To get to the NHL, once you’re at that level you’ve got all the physical skills. To stay there and be good, it’s the mental side. You know you get to make a difference every day, good or bad. When things aren’t going well, it’s easy to lose your confidence, and it’s hard to get it back. So I think the hardest thing to master is yourself, just in your own mind.

SCHNEIDER: The hardest part is reading the play. It’s tough, because the only way you get better at it is by playing more. But you only play if you’re good enough to play. So it’s important for guys to get the reps, at the minor league level, in college, in junior, ECHL, the AHL.

BRODEUR: I think being consistent. You can do as many reps as you want, but to be able to play at a level and keep that level for 60 minutes a game, some people have a hard time doing that or have a hard time doing it playing three games in four nights.

HIRSCH: It’s probably the art of waiting for the play to develop. You really have no choice but to wait for a shooter to shoot it, because if you move too soon, you expose the net. The best guys have the ability to make the shooter panic first. Carey Price. Marty Brodeur. They don’t move. They wait out the shooter.

LUONGO: The mental side. That’s the most important thing. You need to be sharp as far as being confident and knowing what you need to do on any given night. But as soon as a little bit of doubt creeps in your mind, it’s weird how bad things start to happen. The thing I’ve tried to master my whole career, and it’s practically impossible but you do work on it, is the mental side and being able to go out there and be at the top of your game every night.

KORN: The easiest skill for me as a coach to help the goalie with are physical skills. The efficiencies, the way they contort their body, the way they get tight. Mental skills are harder, like tracking the puck off the stick and recognizing patterns in plays, because you can only really do that after the fact. You need video after the game often to do that.

BRODEUR: When you play a lot, the bad things that happen are just little checkmarks, and you move on. It’s how good you’re able to bounce back. And that’s how you become consistent. That’s the challenge for every single goalie. Your performance matters, but you need to be bigger than your performance. That’s what makes you a goalie who every night people will have the same feeling about your game. It’s not going to be a good game, a bad game, an OK game. You’re just going to be consistent every time you go in. Your reaction to plays will be consistent. And that really helps you in the playoffs. It’s an extra step. Everything is overanalyzed.

KORN: And maybe the hardest skills to possess or manage are the emotional skills, being able to bounce back after a bad game or bad goal, and being able to control your mind, your emotions, your self talk, your highs and lows during a game. Because you’re all by yourself. You’re out there all by yourself. The puck’s at the other end of the ice. And I can’t help them! Unless they tell me what’s going through their minds or what they’re thinking or whether their heart rate goes up or down…I will never know. And I can’t practice 18,000 people in a building in a 2-1 game with 30 seconds left! That’s where body of work comes in. And you have to experience it to experience it. You can’t practice it. You can prepare all you want, but until you’re in that element you can’t replicate it.

Are goalies always the weirdest guy on the team? Or is that a myth?

BRODEUR: It’s true. I’ve played with guys where I was amazed. I’m not one of them – I think anyway – but more and more you see players have these different things you do, and you’re shaking your head. I tried to minimize it. There’s so much going on your hockey career that less is more sometimes. I’ve seen guys and thought, ‘Why are they going through this?” but it becomes natural to them, and they feel more prepared because of it.

KORN: I coached a goalie that had lucky sticks. And when he broke his last lucky stick, it went to hell in a handbasket.

SCHNEIDER: It’s like a baseball pitcher. You have to do whatever you need to to get into a mental state where you’re going to play well. That lends itself to some weird habits and traditions and superstitions. It’s inherent with the position that you have to be a little bit different than everyone else.

LUONGO: One guy I played with, he wouldn’t lift his mask up during the game, so he’d always have to keep it down. And one time, he was eating a power bar during a TV timeout, and he wouldn’t lift his mask up, and he was feeding it through his grill, but he couldn’t reach his mouth because it was too far away (laughs).

BRODEUR: I had backups who would play five games a year, and they wouldn’t talk to anyone the day they played. Like, seriously? Enjoy that day you’re playing at least! (laughs). But I always respected that regardless of who they were on my team. Everybody needs to do their own things to be 100 percent ready when they play.

Do or did you have any quirks or superstitions of your own?

HIRSCH: My second NHL game was in Los Angeles. Guys barely know me. I’m a kid from junior and came up from the minors. I’m playing Gretzky and all them. First period goes by, and I don’t get scored on. Second period they score three goals on me. Then I’m like, “OK.” What I used to do is a complete mental reset. So I would get completely undressed, naked, right down to nothing. I’ve got all these guys, NHL players that don’t even know me, watching this 20-year-old kid get completely undressed after the second period and then redressed again in 15 minutes. I didn’t get scored on in the third, and we won 8-3.

HASEK: Patrick Roy, he always had to jump over the lines on the ice. I always before the game had one way I made the ice in front of me in the crease. From one side and from post to post. I think it was four times from side to side.

MCLENNAN: There were a lot of things I would do. It had nothing to do with “I was a crazy goalie.” It was, “Hey, I’ve got to keep my mind in it. If not I’ll be looking in the stands for a cute girl or to see if my parents are there.” It’s easy to get distracted. I’d have these routines that would keep my dialled in to the game. I’ve thought about it long after my career. I knew what I was as a player, but you always wanted to be better, and you look back and wonder if sometimes your mental makeup got in the way of some of your skill.

FUHR: I tried to keep it as normal as possible. The game’s hard enough with enough different variables without having to worry about whether you put one pad on one way or another, so you’re just adding another element to things, like having to be asleep at a certain time and such. With all the travel and stuff, things don’t work normally.

What’s something you see in young goalies today that grinds your gears?

BRODEUR: I’ve got one playing in junior, and I hate to watch what he does. Everybody does it! (haha). When goalies go on their knees, I know it’s a fast move, but for them to shuffle on their knees to go everywhere on the ice and not use their ability of skating, I don’t like it. I see goalies get themselves into position, and the guy takes a shot, it goes wide, he goes down in the butterfly, the puck hits the corner, wraps around to the hash marks on the side boards… that goalie went down, pushed to his post, and the puck is not even there, and pushed themselves back instead of just getting up and going straight to where the puck is supposed to be. A lot of goalies do that, and that bothers me. You guys are wasting way too much energy. I must’ve been lazy when I played, because I didn’t want to move too much out there! (laughs)

FUHR: You see everybody going down on every shot. I haven’t figured that one out yet. You can always butterfly, but at the same time, the easiest way to make a save is on your feet. I was always taught you get up so you get the second and third shot. You don’t stay down.

KORN: What drives me crazy is goalies sliding all over the place when they can actually stay on their feet and skate to where they need to go. There’s nothing wrong with sliding at the right time. But overusing any move, using any move at the wrong time because they see it on TV, that drives me crazy.

HIRSCH: They’re overcoached, a lot of young goalies. It’s being careful more where you get your information from. Everyone and their dog right now is out there as a goalie coach. Everybody loves goalies and appreciates passion, but you better be getting the right information, or it’s expensive and you’re wasting your money on someone that’s giving you what they believe is right, but it’s not the right information.

LUONGO: It grinds my gears that they’re all good (laughs). It seems everybody can play goalie at a high level. It’s so hard. There’s very, very little difference between a starter and a backup nowadays.

KORN: For me the reverse is more of a big boy save. The smaller you are, the more vulnerable you are when you get into that position. I see it so many times used ineffectively, too early, too often. When the puck’s on the wall, there’s no reason to be in reverse, when the pucks 45 or 50 feet away from you. I think that’s worse than the dropping or sliding.

MCLENNAN: Not at the NHL level, as it’s been weeded out, but there are too many “hockey school goalies” out there. Technically they look amazing in practice. But how does it translate to a game when you’ve got traffic, you’ve got people banging into you, little things like… playing in Detroit, I knew the boards ere lively. There are factors you can’t teach in a hockey school. That's what drives me nuts, when you see a goaltender from a structural standpoint has all the tools but can’t put it together. He doesn’t have the ability to adjust. Sometimes a tip at the last second, a read, maybe a defenseman comes across your sightline. There are so many things that factor into making a save or not making a save. It drives me nuts when I see guys who allow a goal, and I think it’s avoidable by tracking the puck, like watching it into your glove, or having the presence of mind to know what the options are, instead of “ugh, I’m gonna go down and be big and try to get hit by it. That’s something that frustrates a lot of former goalies.

Cory Schneider and Martin Brodeur.Author: Getty Images

The butterfly reached peak popularity with Patrick Roy in the 1980s and 1990s. Are we transitioning away from that style?

LUONGO: I don’t think so. Butterfly is always going to be the most effective way to stop the puck. But you’re also seeing different techniques as far as where the puck is on the ice. When the puck’s behind the net or at a bad angle, sometimes the butterfly’s not the most effective way to be. But in a straight-on shooting situation, the best and most efficient way to stop the puck is the butterfly.

SCHNEIDER: The game’s becoming so fast and high-paced that you can’t just rely on the butterfly. You have to hold your feet longer than you may have before. As the game opens up more, you have to able to move. You can’t just stay on your knees and slide around. I try to play a bit of a hybrid. I’m predominantly butterfly, but I do try to maintain my feet and not commit too early.

FUHR: The game’s turning more toward the hybrid. Once you take eliminate hooking, holding, goalies have to move and be able to be athletic again.

HIRSCH: When Jonathan Quick won those Stanley Cups, we saw a bit of a change to the crab-like goalie. Flexible. I see a bit of that. That’s a special skill. I would have a tough time coaching a guy like Quick, because that’s not what I teach. Billy Ranford’s done a really good job there. We’re seeing more of that, which is great, because to me it’s athleticism.

BRODEUR: The athleticism of goalies is getting back in the game. Technique is very important, but you have to read the plays. You can’t just be blocking shots all the time. You have to be more in control. Especially with a quick game, there’s a lot going on, there are a lot of desperate saves to be made, and the only thing to do is just react and play hockey, not just block shots. You see it in Price. He’s a really quiet goalie, but when it’s really time for him to be desperate. Holtby, Luongo, a lot of guys have a lot of success doing that.

KORN: I’ve got a saying: the butterfly is a save, not a style. Because playing goal is way more than that. And so we’ve been transitioning away from that. When you think of all the goalies who came out of the lockout in 2004-04 and did not fare very well, the transition began then. Remember how we talked about ‘The New NHL’? Well I’ll tell you what: it’s a new NHL every day. It gets faster every day. The players get better every day. The game changes every day.

Who’s the best goalie in the NHL today and why?

BRODEUR: Carey Price. His success internationally, the way he carried his team the first part of the year before last. We got to play him in Montreal, and we outchanced them four to one and we were not even in the game just because of him. I just feel right now, when he’s not hurt or sick, he’s the best. He really impresses me. And I’ve watched a lot just because I’m from Montreal and a lot of people are always talking about him. All my buddies and stuff.

MCLENNAN: Carey Price. I don’t hesitate on that one.

SCHNEIDER: Carey Price gets a lot of that recognition, which he should. The year he had, and the World Cup. I think he’s the pinnacle of technique combined with athleticism and improvisation. A lot of guys set him as the gold standard.

FUHR: I put it a tie between Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist. They’re different styles. Henrik’s more of your traditional butterfly goalie, and Carey’s more of your hybrid goalie, but both guys seem able to make that big save for that team when you need it.

HIRSCH: Easily Carey Price. The best goalies in the world have a certain demeanor, where they just don’t give a shit. They care, but nothing fazes them. And Marty and was the same way. They’ve got a different level of competitiveness and anxiety. Most of us who are super competitive have a certain anxiety level. Like I couldn’t sleep after a bad game. It would bug me for days. Whereas those guys are like, “Meh.”

LUONGO: Carey Price, because he’s got the most talent, and when you have a good technique and you have the most talent, it’s a tough combination to beat.

SCHNEIDER: A rival of mine Henrik Lundqvist, I always appreciate a guy who year in and year out just churns a way. For a decade or more he’s been one of the best goalies in the NHL, and I have a lot of appreciation for that longevity and how much he works at his craft.

You have to win a Game 7 and can start any goalie who ever lived. You can’t pick yourself. Go.

BRODEUR: I would go with Patrick. What I’m looking for in goalies is being consistent. Patrick Roy is going to play how many good games and no bad goals. Not spectacular, as much as a guy like Dominik Hasek who can steal you a game at any time. For me, Patrick is just more of a guy I look up to, not in the way he played but in how consistent he was. Never had a bad year. That’s what I wanted to achieve. Play a lot, being durable and being consistent every single year. It was a goal of mine to always be in the top five in wins. Goals-against average, I didn’t really care, and save percentage, I couldn’t control that because of where I played. And Patrick, if you look throughout his career, he was always there. That’s why I would pick him.

SCHNEIDER: I have to go with my guy in Jersey, Marty. Won three Cups. Won the Olympics. Having played with him, just seeing how cool and calm he is, it doesn’t matter if it’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup or Game 1 of the regular season. He has the same demeanor and same conviction and confidence. He was a big-game goalie. He loves that spotlight and situation.

HASEK: I’ll go with Patrick Roy. He won more Stanley Cups. Patrick Roy in his prime time.

MCLENNAN: Give me Grant Fuhr. I’m unbelievably biased because I grew up watching him and played with him in St. Louis. Even in my book I talk about how he said against Phoenix one night, “Guys, just get me one goal tonight and I’ll be good.” And we won 1-0. It was a Game 7 in the playoffs. I know the term “money goaltender” or “clutch” has been challenged, but Fuhrsy was clutch (laughs).

LUONGO: Patrick, because he was so competitive. You could tell his intensity level was always higher than everybody else’s.

FUHR: I would have to go with Terry Sawchuk. Growing up watching, he seemed to be ‘The Guy’ at that time.

Who’s the scariest player you ever had to face?

HASEK: Mario Lemieux. Even though were numbers not the best against me, he was the player I was most afraid of. I remember when we played against Mario, I said to my defense, “Everywhere he goes, be sure you know where he is. Even if he’s behind the net, get to him” (laughs).

HIRSCH: Mario. Easily. He was big, he was strong, he had a reach. He could do all of it. It was ridiculous. People ask me, “Gretzky or Mario?” And no disrespect to Gretzky, but I caught Gretzky at the end of his career. I caught Mario in his prime, and I’d never seen anything like that, ever.

BRODEUR: It’s too bad, because I didn’t play in the prime of Gretzky and Lemieux, but for me it was Jaromir Jagr. I’ve played so much against him with Pittsburgh or the Rangers, and for me he was the best.

FUHR: Al MacInnis. He had the shot that (1) was hard, (2) was heavy. So it seemed to find ways to roll off you into the net.

MCLENNAN: Al MacInnis was ridiculous. You know who had a bomb, who was scary? Al Iafrate. He had a touch of recklessness to him. Another guy who terrified me all the time was Joe Sakic because of his release. You couldn’t read it off his stick. He would beat you before you were set.

SCHNEIDER: Guys with those elite releases, the Vladimir Tarasenkos, the Ovechkins, they mask the puck well but get a lot on it.

LUONGO: A guy like Ovechkin always comes to mind, because he likes to shoot the puck a lot and he has a hard shot and quick release and places it well. When you play a guy like that, you always have to pay extra attention to him, because he’s dangerous and they’re gonna try to give him the puck and he can score from anywhere on the ice.

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Coyotes’ Cunningham alert, awake and joking with teammates, but remains in hospital

There’s still no word as to what exactly caused Coyotes AHL captain Craig Cunningham to collapse on ice, but the 26-year-old was in contact with teammates and cracking jokes earlier this week.

More than two weeks after collapsing on the ice ahead of an AHL game between the Coyotes and Jets AHL affiliates, news has come that Craig Cunningham is starting to get back to his old self.

According to Tucson’s KVOA, Cunningham spoke with two teammates, Brandon Burlon and Christian Fisher, via FaceTime earlier this week, and both said that things are starting to look up for the 26-year-old Cunningham.

Fisher added that it was nice to see Cunningham, the captain of the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate Tucson Roadrunners, smiling again. But he wasn’t just smiling, he was also trying to have a good time with his teammates while hinting that he wants to get back on the ice.

“He was cracking jokes just as if he were here the next day," Fisher told KVOA. "It was pretty funny. He said he wanted us to come pick him up and take him to the rink. He was joking around. Stuff like that.”

The mystery still remains as to what caused Cunningham’s collapse, however. It came just moments before the game was set to start and resulted in medical staff in the building cutting away his equipment in order to attend to him. Cunningham ended up leaving the ice on a stretcher, was transported to hospital and he remained in critical but stable condition for much of the past two weeks.

Still, though, Burlon and Fisher said that there’s no “definitive answer” as to what caused Cunningham’s medical emergency. That’s more than all right with both players, too, so long as Cunningham’s health is starting to look up.

"What we do know is that he is doing well and we are moving forward here," Fisher told KVOA. "Hopefully, he will start the road to recovery now.”

Cunningham has suited up for 319 AHL games over the course of his career, netting 101 goals and 203 points, as well as scoring an additional three goals and eight points in 63 NHL games. He was drafted 97th overall by the Bruins in 2010, but was picked up by Arizona off waivers from Boston during the 2014-15 season.

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The Rangers started the season as one of the league’s hottest teams, but have come back down to earth lately. Getting back on track will be a bit harder without the services of Rick Nash for the next week.

Another year, another ailment for Rick Nash, but luckily for the New York Rangers winger this one won’t be keeping him out of the lineup long-term.

Nash, 32, was forced to the leave the Rangers’ loss to the New York Islanders early on Tuesday, suffering a lower-body ailment that put him out of the game, and an MRI on Wednesday revealed that Nash will be sidelined for somewhere in the neighborhood of one week due to a groin injury.

Considering Nash was forced out of action due to the injury, that he’ll miss only one week is about as good as the news could be. Most Rangers fans would have thought the worst when Nash was forced to leave the game, especially given he missed nearly a quarter of the 2015-16 campaign due to a knee injury.

Being out for a week would force Nash, currently third on the Rangers in scoring behind J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes with 18 points, to miss anywhere from four to six games, depending when he’s feeling fit to return to action. Only one of those games are divisional games, which is a slight bonus, but the set of games against the Chicago Blackhawks is certainly a pair the Rangers could use Nash for, and getting by the New Jersey Devils and Winnipeg Jets without Nash in the lineup is going to require someone else stepping up.

Nash is in the midst of quite the bounce back season, too. While it may be a far cry from his remarkable 2014-15 campaign in which he scored a career-best 42 goals to go along with 69 points, Nash has already potted 11 goals this season and, prior to his injury, was on pace for another 30-goal campaign.

Even if Nash reaches the 20-goal mark this season, though, it would be a step up from his past campaign. He managed only 15 goals and 36 points in 2015-16, making for the lowest full-season goal total of his career.

Nash isn’t the only injury concern for the Rangers right now, however. New York will also be without Matt Puempel for the foreseeable future due to a concussion and Mika Zibanejad’s broken fibula will likely keep him out of action for at least another month, if not more.

The Rangers, who started the season as one of the league’s hottest teams, are just 4-5-1 in their past 10 games.

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It’s been another tough road back from a concussion, but Clarke MacArthur is inching closer to his return. Senators coach Guy Boucher confirmed MacArthur can take contact and said the 31-year-old looks better every day.

Just days ago Clarke MacArthur said he was targeting a return to the Ottawa Senators’ lineup in roughly one month, and he has taken a big step towards that goal by getting the go-ahead to resume contact in practices.

Ahead of Wednesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, Senators coach Guy Boucher announced that MacArthur, 31, has been given the green light to start giving and receiving bodychecks in practice, and Boucher said Ottawa can’t wait to have the veteran winger back in the lineup.

“He’s such a big part of our team that it will obviously change a lot of what we do, power play, 5-on-5, penalty kill and leadership-wise,” Boucher said, via TSN 1200.

MacArthur has been on the shelf since the start of the season after suffering a concussion during a training camp scrimmage, which made for the fourth head injury he has had to deal with less than two years. Making matters all the more heartbreaking, though, was that the injury came as MacArthur was attempting to make his comeback to the lineup after missing all but four games in 2015-16 due to a concussion that was bad enough he had thoughts of retirement.

Despite the recent concussion, though, MacArthur said he intended on getting healthy and contributing to the team this season, and told the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch that one of the main reasons he wanted to get back to action was to fulfill his contract. The four games he played during the 2015-16 season have been his only action on his current five-year, $23.25-million deal. He signed the deal in August 2014.

There are positive signs for MacArthur beyond being cleared for contact, too. Boucher said Wednesday that MacArthur has looked better every day in both his physical capabilities and his demeanor. Boucher added it feels as if MacArthur could be cleared for his return any day.

“He looks so good out there, and he’s looked so good for a while now, but it’s really being smart and taking the right steps,” Boucher said. “Health is first…Now it’s just a matter of time before we get the OK, but we’re going to wait until it’s the right and we’re told that this is the right time in his mind, right time medically and the right time physically.”